Turning the Kindle Fire HD over immediately leaves no doubt that this is a different Kindle than last year's tablet.

To keep up with the horizontal layout, the micro-USB and micro-HDMI ports are placed along the bottom edge of the Fire HD.

Button mashers rejoice—the Kindle Fire HD has actual physical volume buttons!

Along with the volume rocker, the right side of the Kindle houses the 3.5 mm headphone jack, power button, and the right speaker grille.